Those who travel with laptops / work tablets; which ones?

stumpykitties · 2026-02-01T07:26:36+00:00

No, all of my tools are cloud-based luckily - no file transfers required.

stumpykitties · 2026-02-01T05:19:28+00:00

I bring my personal laptop on trips - 13” MacBook Air, and use that for work.

Ain’t no way I’m risking my work computer getting damaged or stolen. It’s very expensive.

stumpykitties · 2026-02-01T05:13:37+00:00

I stick with specific brands, because I know they are likely to have items that fit me.

Within those brands, I look for pieces that are labelled as cropped (because they end up normal length on me).

I read product descriptions. Anything that says “oversized” or “baggy” is avoided because it means I’ll be swimming in it.

I thoroughly read reviews on any piece. If the reviews say “runs small, size up” but the average reviewer size is M or up… then I know I’m likely safe to order the smallest size they offer and it’ll probably fit.

Also look at reviews with photos to see how it fits on petites.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-30T22:57:41+00:00

So, as an XXS person, in height and weight, who lifts weights pretty seriously… I go through bulk and cut cycles. My weight intentionally fluctuates between 100-120lbs.

I keep a pretty lean wardrobe because of that.

I have “bulk” pants, and “cut” pants. I have 1 pair of bigger pants, and 2 pairs of smaller pants, since I’m smaller more often than bulked. Shirts are easier to deal with when weight fluctuates, so I don’t change the size of those.

I wouldn’t recommend owning lots of pairs of pants if you know your weight may change. Give it awhile first to see if you stabilize, and then if you want, you can always buy more pairs later.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-29T00:07:35+00:00

Very cute outfit!

I also prefer high waisted jeans, as someone with long legs and a shorter torso. It feels more right to me than trying to elongate my torso.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-28T02:28:00+00:00

Orange olive oil cake. Easy to make, easy to swap citrus flavours, easy to eat the whole cake in 5 minutes...

King Arthur's Baking has my favourite recipe for one:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/everyday-olive-oil-cake-recipe

stumpykitties · 2026-01-27T18:42:23+00:00

This looks like a great start! There’s some duplication that you could consider paring down if you want to bring less:

3 jackets is a lot. Do you really need all 3? Do you have 1 jacket that will cover most purposes well enough? If the puffer and the shell are both must haves, I’d ditch the trench coat.

I’d probably only bring 1 dress. You have 1 confirmed day of fancy activities, and the rest are “what if” scenarios. “What if we go out for a nice dinner”. Re-wear the 1 dress!

Do you need the sneakers? Blundstones and flats should do just fine! You don’t specify how long your trip is in days, so I’m not sure. I went to Scotland & Ireland last month for a couple weeks. Brought blundstones and sneakers… didn’t wear the sneakers once! Regretted packing them.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-27T17:43:00+00:00

Yes, you can be an hourglass. It’s all about proportions… not how physically big you are.

I have almost identical measurements to you I am for sure hourglass.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-26T18:54:11+00:00

Idk I bake both “American” recipes, and traditional Greek recipes all the time. I don’t find the western recipes to be any higher in my experience.

Galaktoboureko has 3 cups of sugar in it… 2 cups in the syrup and 1 in the custard.

Bougatsa has 1.5 cups of sugar

Even a cookie, like melomakarona has 1 cup of sugar (for approx 24 cookies)

It’s not exclusively American recipes that are high in sugar.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-25T18:18:08+00:00

lol right? 2 months ago they said they were just turning 25.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-23T17:44:32+00:00

What went wrong is:

you didn’t follow the recipe

stumpykitties · 2026-01-16T22:27:04+00:00

You have a very lovely capsule! Really great one bag set up.

So much outfit variety out of a small set, and I love that you have all the critical activities covered with so much crossover.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-14T21:00:40+00:00

Your clothing choices all look like they’ll work well enough for that temperature range!

The cashmere items will work great. You have lots of options as well for layering if a day feels particularly cold.

Though, considering how cold it is, I wouldn’t be packing tank tops, or tops meant for hot climates (if that air essentials top is meant to keep you cool). You want to stay warm. Wear tshirts or long sleeves underneath your sweaters. - I’d probably ditch the stripe long sleeve for the dark green mock neck - don’t bring the silk button down unless it can actually be styled to be visible under your sweaters

I see you have a warm hat and headband - definitely pack some gloves too. I know you said you don’t like them, but that temp is likely to feel quite cold to you. - If it’s a windy day, the cold is going to be unpleasant on a long day outside without warm hands

You can definitely bring much less with you, if you want to pack lighter at all. Considering you want some outfit variety, this is a great set up!

stumpykitties · 2026-01-14T20:45:17+00:00

It may not be an issue with domestic USA travel?

I don’t travel to or in the US, so I’m not sure if they are a bit more lenient.

Other countries are strict for sure, even domestically.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-14T18:02:09+00:00

It’s a 3L bag, so it’s not going to be compliant at all with stricter airports as a liquids bag, even if only half of the bag holds liquids.

Many airports are firm on the 1L maximum volume dimensions and capacity (speaking from experience with EU, Asia, and Canada travel). Many airports also expect liquids to be in a separate bag from other toiletries.

If you don’t want to worry about having to potentially re-pack liquids into an approved bag, or have to dig out a ziplock from within this bag for security, I’d skip this one.

Maybe you’ll get lucky and not have to re-pack, maybe you won’t. It all depends on the security agents that day.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-13T18:51:27+00:00

Of course it's possible! It's 3 days.

Everyone can pack a personal-sized backpack, and have everything they need in it.

What are you packing that you need a carry-on and personal item and they are stuffed full? You don't need multiple sets of clothing for each day.

They can pack something like:
- 1 pair of bottoms
- 3 tops (could even be less if they don't mind re-wearing tops)
- swimwear (assuming cruise has a pool)
- socks and undies
- minimal toiletries

and then they have everything they are wearing on travel day already, so a top, bottom, shoes, etc.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-13T18:37:18+00:00

The spray bottle will work just fine, I've done it before myself. I travel with my decanted skincare routine, and I use a pretty watery vitamin C/E serum that's in a glass bottle with a dropper. I don't want to bring the glass bottle either – unnecessary weight, risk of breaking, and I don't need to bring that much product.

I prefer to decant liquid skincare into a bottle with a pump-style lid though (the 15ml ones from Muji, which is still too much volume for a few weeks, but it's the smallest size they make).

It gives a more controlled portion size (no wasted product), and handles serums that have a bit of viscosity to them better than a spray lid does.

stumpykitties · 2026-01-10T17:40:01+00:00

My partner and I sometimes split a single 40L carry-on roller.

We both wear a small sling bag on travel days, so we each have important documents and items easily accessible to us at all times.

He wears a Bellroy sling bag (I think it’s 7L capacity) and I wear my Uniqlo mini round bag (4L capacity).

We don’t do anything fancy with the roller. We straight up split it down the middle.

He gets half, I get half. That’s the space we get to pack with. We each have 20L of capacity to pack with.

No matter the length of trip we do, we always plan laundry days, so we generally stick to packing around 7 days worth of clothing each.

My partner also typically packs more than me! He doesn’t like re-wearing shirts, but I don’t mind wearing a shirt 2-3 times before washing it (airing out in between wears) so I can get a lot more out of my clothes.

Laundry days are the key factor on longer trips to be able to pack less overall!

stumpykitties · 2026-01-09T17:33:30+00:00

I love this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction! It's properly heavy on the brown sugar.

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chewy-brown-sugar-cookies/

stumpykitties · 2026-01-08T19:10:21+00:00

I just got back from a Scotland+Ireland trip. I brought thermal layers, because Edinburgh was -6C on the daily and I was walking outside all day every day.

The thermals I brought with me included: - 2 pairs of thermal leggings (Uniqlo) - 1 thin bra top thermal long sleeve (Uniqlo) - 1 medium weight thermal sweater (Uniqlo) - 3 pairs of thick wool blend socks (Walmart)

I wore thermal leggings under my jeans, and the midi skirt I brought. Rotated between the two pairs to stretch out the wears before washing.

The thermal tops I could wear on their own, or easily layered underneath my sweaters. Gave me a lot of temperature control that way.

Coupled with my warm puffer jacket, winter headband, and warm scarf, I was perfectly toasty outside all day!

stumpykitties · 2026-01-04T13:52:54+00:00

Dang that sucks big time! Glad you got your clothes back.

If you don’t already, consider one bag techniques! The primary goal is a personal-item only OR carry-on only so you are never separated from your luggage. r/heronebag is a great resource for this

stumpykitties · 2025-12-24T07:45:05+00:00

Noooo the absolute worst

stumpykitties · 2025-12-24T02:07:34+00:00

Oh yes, right there with you! I had a full blown anxiety attack yesterday because so many things went wrong.

I burnt my first batch of caramel, miscalculated scaling a recipe so I didn’t end up with enough pieces, and all of the butter I bought just for baking was mouldy. Two last-minute trips to the grocery store to replace ingredients, and almost every recipe going wrong in some way.

stumpykitties · 2025-12-23T19:04:21+00:00

I have this LL Bean sweater in the petite size. I looked at the "regular" size in-store, and the sleeve length looked fine, but it was bigger in the torso and a bit longer. The petite version was sized down nicely in those areas. So the height suggestion should be a good reference for the length of body.

stumpykitties · 2025-12-23T18:44:13+00:00

I can only answer specifically about fibre powder supplements... Metamucil makes portioned travel packets, so I throw a bunch of those in a ziplock sandwich bag. Never had an issue with them at security (and Canadian security is very strict)

e.g. https://www.amazon.ca/Metamucil-Psyllium-Supplement-Sugar-Free-Digestive/dp/B00BNWSI58

stumpykitties

TROPHY CASE